WHERE SHOULD THEOLOGY START?

Theology goes awry when Theos is removed as the subject of inquiry. For example, Process Theology starts with the subject of evolutionary change and interprets all of reality—God included—through that lens. In doing this, Process Theologians take a valid question (how change relates to an apparently unchanging God) and, by assuming change as unchanging, reshape the unchanging God into a changing God.

Liberation Theology provides another example. This theology reinterprets all reality through the lens of oppression, rather “oppressions”, for specific, local oppressions become the lens. Liberation Theologians reinterpret all God’s ways through “God’s preferential option for the poor.”

In both examples, Christianity becomes idolatry, for in each case something besides God is given interpretational priority. If God truly is God, then theology must begin with Theos. All else is interpreted and given meaning by him. Of course, this notion has an important caveat: we are human and ALL our knowledge is partial. Therefore, even as we practice “theology from above” (some info here), we must hold this theology humbly, listening to the voices of others for important corrections to our understandings. In all, there is a balance of holding to what we believe to be true and remaining open to critique.